ZIM vs SL: After suffering three consecutive defeats (2 ODIs and one T20I) at the hands of Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe have finally recorded a win as they beat the visitors in a low-scoring game by five wickets. This win came at an important time, as Zimbabwe were trailing by 0-1 and needed a win badly to level the series.
Captain Sikandar Raza led the team from the front and played an important role in dismissing the strong Sri Lankan batting unit for just 80 runs in 17.4 overs. Chasing the score, Zimbabwe also lost a few wickets, but it wasn’t a big target, and they scored 84/5 in 14.2 overs to win the game.
Captain Raza bowled an incredible spell of 3/11 in his four overs and broke the backbone of Sri Lankan batting. He dismissed his opposite number, Charith Asalanka, along with Kamindu Mendis and Dushmantha Chameera. Though he couldn’t do much with the bat and scored only 2 runs. But for his incredible bowling performance, he was named the Player of the Match.
ZIM vs SL: Sikandar Raza led Zimbabwe to level the series with a 5-wicket win
The game started with Zimbabwe winning the toss and putting Sri Lanka to bat first. The visitors didn’t have a good start and kept losing wickets. They lost their first five wickets for just 38 runs and were bowled out for 80 runs. It wasn’t a big total, and despite some cheap wickets, Zimbabwe crossed the line.
Sikandar Raza won his 18th Man of the Match award in T20Is, which is the highest for a player from a full-member nation. Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli are in joint second place with 16 MOTM awards. Raza played 110 games, and winning 18 awards is just an incredible feat.
It was the 19th T20I win for Raza while captaining Zimbabwe. He has played 44 games as captain and has 23 defeats, and two games have been abandoned. What is interesting to see is that he has performed brilliantly as captain. His first game as a T20I captain was in 2015 against India, which Zimbabwe won.
In 44 games as captain, he has scored 1091 runs at an average close to 30 and also taken 40 wickets with the ball as well. Now the ongoing three-match T20I series is leveled at 1-1. The series decider will be played on Sunday at Harare Sports Club, starting at 5 PM IST.
